Scottish first minister Alex Salmond’s speech at the recent UK and Commonwealth First World War centenary commemoration subtly emphasised its politicised nature. At no point did he use the term “British…

Where New Zealand’s embrace of Anzac differs from Australia is the place of the legend in national mythology.
Archives New Zealand/FlickrAugust 7, 2014

As the centenary of the Gallipoli landings approaches Australians need to consider the other half of the ANZAC acronym. The rise of Anzac Day as Australia’s national day has been paralleled by the increasing…

‘Memorial diplomacy’, on display in June’s D-Day commemorations, is a mode of symbolic soft power politics which uses sites of memory and commemorative events to boost relations.
AAPAugust 6, 2014

When French president François Hollande rose to deliver the keynote address for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings earlier this year, he set in motion an unprecedented five-year cycle of commemoration…

Germans today have little appetite for constructing new national myths about the Great War, or reclaiming old ones, because of painful associations with the more recent past.
Robert Scarth/FlickrAugust 5, 2014

There is not much of a question of who controls the national myth of the Great War in Germany today. Nobody in particular seems to want to claim it. More interesting, however, is considering who has sought…

Flanders Fields was once the frontline of war – it now is a place of remembrance.
Mark Wainwright/FlickrAugust 1, 2014

In Belgium as in Australia, there are no longer any surviving veterans of the Great War to witness the commemorations of its centenary. However, just as in Australia, there remains an immense interest…

In recent years, the service of troops from France’s then-colonies in both world wars has been the object of sustained presidential attention.
EPA/Philippe WojazerJuly 30, 2014

In vogue among the political left during the events in Paris in May 1968, the French term récupération refers to the danger of “the Establishment”, be it the government or a political party, seizing on…

Many parties have a vested interest in shaping the way we remember the Great War ahead of its centenary, but some are more equal than others.
EPA/Thomas BregardisJuly 30, 2014

When prime minister Tony Abbott declared at Villers-Bretonneux that “no place on earth has been more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than these fields in France”, Australian attention focused again…